My Reply to the RNC

Republican National Committee
310 First Street, Southeast
Washington, D.C. 20003
Attn: Randy Pullen, Treasurer

Dear Randy,

I was surprised to get your letter (after all these years) asking for my support. Yes, I did vote for Richard Nixon and Ronald Regan and even George Bush (the father, not the son) the first time he ran. What a wonderful memory you folks at the RNC must have! I must confess that I was honored that you considered me a “grassroots supporter,” a “grassroots leader” and a “grassroots activist.” (My you certainly like that word!)

Your concern that I may have left the Republican Party was both confusing and troubling. It was confusing because I have voted with the “other side” for over 18 years now and troubling because I hate the thought of losing your high esteem after all those kind words about me in your letter. I guess there is no other way to gently break it to you than to just say it. I am one of those “commie, bedwetting, bleeding-heart, left-wing, tax and spend, godless liberals” now. Oh, I know the shock and horror of it all! How could I go over to the “other side?” Randy, just calm yourself a moment and I’ll try to explain.

American politics has gotten too bitter and vitriolic over the years. While the “Other Team” has not been and is not perfect, as a voter I only have two viable parties to choose from. I have watched the Republican Party embrace the Religious Right and Big Business. I have seen it become a party of mean spirited intolerance, focusing on single issues that divide rather than unite this country. I have seen the party become a party of FEAR wrapped in the American Flag to the exclusion of all who do not conform or fit into its extreme right-wing agenda. Under President Bush (the son, not the father) the Party embraced the small group of New World Order NEOCONS bent on changing the rest of the World to their narrow view. We lost many friends and allies over the last 8 years because of the “our way or the highway” policies. Our standing and respect in the World dropped to an all time low with their embrace of torture and refusal to honor international treaties and conventions.

Randy, my friend, America is changing. We have many different views, backgrounds and colors. We are not all god-fearing, white, patriarchal, heterosexual, Anglo-Saxon Christians. America has always been a melting pot where the ingredients change. What has not changed is America’s love of freedom and hope for a better life for us and our children. We need hope, Randy, not fear and division. We need a party that can identify with the needs and dreams of the majority of Americans in the center, not just the special interest “haves” to the exclusion of the “have-nots.”

I don’t like to admit it, but the “other side” does not have all the answers either. They can be just as vindictive and divisive as the Republicans. We need answers and leadership that will take our country into the next century with new ideas and new ways of doing things. Both parties may have to go the way of the dinosaurs if they do not find a way to bipartisan cooperation and real solutions beyond political posturing and bickering and trying to destroy each other.

If the Republican Party can find its way back to Middle America, stop being the “Party of No” and offer constructive bipartisan solutions, then you may have my support. Until then, let’s just be friends.

FOOD for THOUGHT...

Steve Ortman